Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24 The Keralam police on Thursday said its CCSE team had used specialised software to collect IP addresses of individuals sharing child sexual abuse material on social media and identified 398 locations in the state suspected to be involved in such activities.
Based on intelligence gathered by the Countering Child Sexual Exploitation team, simultaneous searches were conducted across the state on September 21, resulting in the arrest of eight persons, registration of 135 cases and seizure of 212 electronic devices, such as mobile phones, modems, hard disks and memory cards, police said.
“Following these seizures, investigations are currently underway to identify the remaining individuals involved in circulating such material. In line with the Keralam Police’s zero-tolerance policy, strict legal action will be taken against all those involved in this network,” it said.
The action was undertaken as part of Operation P-Hunt, which has resulted in the registration of 8,260 cases and the arrest of 403 individuals over the past few years for possessing Child Sexual Exploitative and Abusive Material, it said.
Despite recent successes in combating cybercrime against children, offenders continue to adapt their methods to evade law enforcement, police said.
In response to these evolving tactics, Operation P-Hunt specifically targeted Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material sellers, child sex offenders, repeat offenders and major distributors involved in the circulation of such material, it said.
Operation P-Hunt is an ongoing statewide covert cyber-surveillance and enforcement campaign to track individuals who view, download, store or share child sexual abuse material online.
Police said offenders had attempted to conceal their activities and avoid leaving digital footprints by streaming and immediately deleting such material from their devices.
They had increasingly avoided storing the material locally, instead distributing or selling it through cloud-access links, enabling others to access and further circulate it, the police said.
Investigators had observed a growing trend of illicit networks operating across mainstream social media and encrypted messaging platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as cloud-storage platforms.
In more serious cases, offenders had allegedly used malware to covertly activate the webcams of minors and steal their personal information, police said.
“Recognising the severity of the ongoing crisis and the continued exploitation of children, the CCSE Centre transitioned to a high-tech operational mode. Its investigators utilised specialised software to collect IP addresses and advanced digital tools to trace individuals sharing illicit material across social media platforms,” it said.
“Operation P-Hunt has successfully identified individuals engaged in these highly invasive and predatory practices and initiated targeted legal action against them,” it said.
The CCSE unit has been fully operational since January 2020 with a dedicated mandate to prevent and detect online crimes against children.
Under current laws, viewing, distributing or storing CSEAM is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.
Police urged the public to remain vigilant and immediately report any channels or groups sharing such material to the CCSE Centre or through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, saying child safety was the responsibility of every member of society.
(PTI News)
